Krystle Dos Santos goes back to the future
Krystle Dos Santos - Femme Fatale
Krystle Dos Santos leaps back to the future with an ambitious new project called Fame Fatale
Far in the future, a post apocalyptic society has relinquished their rights to a master agency. Presiding over the agency is Master Control, who kindly assures the people that this surrender is necessary for the greater good of humankind. Order and compliance are maintained through the dispatch of cyborg assassins called death dealers, who were once human. Among the assassins there is one who is smarter, stronger and faster, and who has logged the most kills. She is Unit 9.
This could be a storyline for a comic book. It could be the screenplay of a science fiction/action movie. What it is, is the sophomore CD of award winning singer/songwriter Krystle Dos Santos. Fame Fatale, a concept album, follows the story of Unit 9 as she disengages from the master agency and begins to rediscover her humanness, along with all the messy emotions that come with it. She vows to take down Master Control, and open the door to freedom for the citizens of this oppressed world.
When it was commented on being an ambitious project, Krystle laughingly says, “It is. Isn’t it crazy? I get scared every time I really think about it or talk about it. This is like, too big for my own britches.” She goes on to say, “I’ve touched on some subject matter that could be close to home. A few changes in our current society, it could very well become this story. That’s why we wanted to do it.”
This album is an entirely different world of creativity. I had the ability to put everything I wanted in to it and get everything I wanted out of it.
The album is set to the driving urban beats of producer, co-creator and fellow Edmontonian, KazMega. With the smooth, powerful and soulful voice of Krystle and a series of entertaining interludes, you are lead along Unit 9’s sojourn. The album was two years in the making. References were sourced out, the storyboard was done and videos were made as part of the development. “We wanted it to be more than just this album,” says Krystle. “We’ve actually created a comic to go along with it and are going to have a comic series on line. We want it to be a franchise that includes comic book and song and we also want to bring other artists into it. There might even be a 1930’s style radio show. A lot of the stuff is like the sci-fi you may know from the fifties, and the songs are a little bit retro. We wanted to do something that was new but also held that nice classic stuff.”
Dos Santos coins her style “electro-soul”. She has written songs for the album that channel some of that retro soul vibe, but are also based on current observations and situations. The emotions that are expressed are timeless and have been placed in the future to give animation to the character Unit 9. “One of the main goals,” says Krystle, “was to make it accessible musically, and really allow each song to fit within the context of the story but also to stand alone.”
James Bond was a reference for the album Fame Fatale
Her creative flames were fanned when her first self titled disk won the 2009 Western Canadian Music Award for Best Urban Album. “My first self titled album was such an amazing learning experience. It was a really great way to get myself on the map and my foot in the door. This album is an entirely different world of creativity. I had the ability to put everything I wanted in to it and get everything I wanted out of it. It was very satisfying.” She continues to explain how she approached the project. “The feelings I put into it were more genuine. I had the time to weave my way through the feelings I was having at the time and write from my heart. But also I had the focus of writing for the story and the awareness of writing outside the story, making it relate to anybody.” Krystle cites a particular song as an example. “I had a break up after a 3 year relationship, which the song “Dead Wrong” was written for. You know I didn’t even know that it was written for that reason. A few months went by and I went oh my god, wait a second, that was a real therapy song. I thought I was writing for a completely different reason.”
Who is Krystle Dos Santos? She was a child who loved to perform. Even being kicked off of the cheerleading squad in high school didn’t dampen that spark.
I'm falling so much more in love with this industry and how you can express yourself and the message you can get out there.
After a year at the Canadian School of Performing Arts in Victoria, BC it was off to the UK to find fame and fortune in musical theatre. She returned to Canada, determined to follow through with a career in music. In the meantime she attended the University of Alberta and recently pocketed a Bachelor of Science degree. She is a model as well as an actress.
Krystle has finally found a home for her creativity, as an independent artist.
She says, “I’m falling so much more in love with this industry and how you can express yourself and the message you can get out there. If you just keep on going, just don’t stop, things can come true.”
